Background

The present conference is the third in a series organized by Ravi Kanbur, T.H. Lee Professor of World Affairs and Professor of Economics, Cornell University . The first, held at Cornell in March 2001, focused on conceptual issues in the use of mixed methods in poverty analysis. Approximately twenty participants gave short presentations on a range of themes followed by group discussion. The second conference was held in May 2003 in Accra , Ghana with a focus on elaborating a concrete research proposal integrating qualitative and quantitative approaches to poverty analysis. The present conference scheduled to be held May 15-16, 2004 at the Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto , is jointly organized by Ravi Kanbur and Paul Shaffer, University of Toronto .

 

Format and Content

The conference will focus on empirical examples of Best Practice in the use of mixed method approaches to the analysis of poverty in the developing world. Fifteen speakers have been invited to make short presentations followed by group discussion ( see Program ). The fifteen successful candidates, whose work is from sub-Saharan Africa , Asia and Latin America , were chosen from a very high quality pool of around seventy five applicants. It is anticipated that the papers presented at the conference will appear as a special issue of a journal. Conference attendance will be open, though accommodation and meals for non-presenters will be the responsibility of attendees.

 

Sponsors

Conference sponsors include Cornell University , the International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

and the UK 's Department for International Development (DFID).